Rachel's Council Review

As usual for the review, my comments are red and italicized in the context of the latest Council Preview by Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen.

The Ames City Council meets on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall.  The agenda includes the following. Note that you can generally click on individual agenda items below to get the full staff report or other explanation.
 

• 15. Public Input Opportunity for the CIP (Capital Improvements Plan).
  We reviewed the CIP at our most recent workshop on 1/18, and the time for public input is allotted during this meeting. 
  
  We received one public comment about supporting more multi-modal capital projects that prioritize bikers and pedestrians over improvements that increase capacity on roadways. We also had a question on page 72 of the CIP, about why sanitary sewers that were inspected to have structural defects (ratings of “4” or “5”) will not be fixed until after the recommended timeframe of 12 months and five years, respectively. Staff responded that this program began in FY 2015/16, and was originally estimated to need $25.7 million in improvements over 10 years to improve all of the sanitary sewer infrastructure with ratings of “4” or “5”. Construction costs rising above this original estimate and city maintenance staffing are two reasons that have contributed to the delays in the timeline of improvements for these projects. 
• 17. Staff Report regarding aquatic programming after Municipal Pool closes and potential changes in hours at Furman Aquatic Center to accommodate swimming lessons.
  Though we are moving forward with a new indoor aquatic facility, it won't be ready by the time the current municipal pool closes. This creates a gap for Parks & Rec services related to aquatics, such as learn-to-swim lessons, lap swimming, etc. Staff are examining several options for how to provide these services, such as possibly collaborating with local hotels that have pools, ISU, Mary Greeley, Green Hills, or private fitness facilities. Most of these conversations are still ongoing, so this agenda item is informational and doesn't require Council action. Staff are also proposing some changes to open swim times at Furman to allow time for swimming lessons there in season.
  
  City staff answered a couple of brief questions about trying to partner with the school district for swimming lessons, and about the potential liability of the city when using alternate facilities for swimming lessons. The council then accepted staff's report. 
• 19. Staff Report regarding request to review zoning requirements for ground floor commercial use within a CCR-zoned property at 4820 Mortensen Road.
  Council has been asked to consider allowing residential use of the ground floor units at 4820 Mortensen. This area was originally a commercially zoned area, but a prior Council allowed the mixed-use residential that exists today. These units were built with the intention of ground-floor commercial spaces with residential on the upper floors. The property owner hasn't been able to rent them as commercial, and instead has been using them as short-term residential units, with 60-day leases, which is allowed as a commercial use. Options include changing the zoning to RH (high-density residential) and allowing the ground floor units to be used as residential rental units with longer leases, not changing the zoning, or perhaps even requesting the property owner reserve some of these spaces as LMI rentals if a zoning change is approved.
  
  After asking a few questions about this item to the planning department staff and discussing the option to reserve some of these spaces as LMI rentals, the property owner made a few comments, and then answered some of city council's questions about occupancy of the ground-floor spaces and why the commercial spaces have been generally unsuccessful. They also clarified that the current 60-day leases are more difficult to fill than a standard appartment lease, and also cause issues with financing the property, as several national lenders won't allow properties like this to qualify for their loan programs. It was unclear to council whether the applicant would want to proceed with rezoning the property if the council required a percentage of the residential units to be affordable. Council voted 4-2 (Gartin and Corrieri voting nay) to have staff have a discussion with the property owner about the potential for a rezone with a portion of the units required to be affordable. This item will come back to council after this discussion with the same options to proceed, but further clarity about what the applicant would be willing to do in order to change the zoning of the property, whether through a text amendment or through a land use change and subsequent rezone.
• 20. Request for Proposals regarding small lot industrial development subdivision utilizing tax increment financing.
  In April of last year, Council got a request from Hunziker Co. to consider a TIF incentive to help with the development of a small-lot industrial park on a 73 acre parcel off of Dayton Avenue. Rather than award the TIF directly to Hunziker Co. for that land at that time, Council directed staff to send out an RFP to see if others might also be interested in developing property in this way. Only one company submitted an RFP. Council is being asked to decide if staff should continue to negotiate on some of the interests expressed in the RFP that weren't met, or to reject this proposal. 
  
  Council has a short discussion on this item, and asked staff if there were any attendees at the informational meeting held by city staff about the RFP. Staff indicated that there were a few attendees at the informational meeting, but that only one proposal was submitted. Council voted 6-0 to direct staff to proceed with evaluating the proposal and attempt to negotiate mutually acceptable terms for a possible development agreement.
• 21. Kingsbury’s Subdivision, 5th Addition.
  Staff are recommending approval of this development agreement and final plat for a property just north of Target along SE 3rd St. The property indicated in the picture below would be split into 4 lots (with a carwash planned for one lot, and two lots in the floodway fringe). 
  
  
  
  This item was pulled by staff, as a finalized Developer's Agreement was not ready to bring to council yet.

• 22. Hearing on proposal for the City of Ames to lease its right, title, and interest to property locally known as 205 South Walnut, Ames, to Heartland Senior Services for a period of 50 years (continued from January 11, 2022).
  This hearing is being continued until February 8th, to allow all parties to review and approve. 
  Council voted to continue the hearing 6-0.

• 30. First passage of revised Ordinance establishing new wards/precincts (second and third readings and adoption requested).
  This is a routine result of updating Census data. Council voted last year to proceed with the maps provided by the County Auditor.
  Council suspended the rules and adopted this ordinance, 6-0.

Communications to Council: The following items are requests and communications to Council that aren't published on the agenda, so we won't deliberate them substantially.  This includes staff reports and communications or requests from constituents and developers. Typically, Council will ask city staff for more information, put the item on a future agenda for deliberation and possible action, or just accept the communication, taking no further action.
 

• City Attorney History Museum Opinion .
  Council took the city attorney's memo under advisement.  
• Story County Urban Fringe Plan Amendment .
  Council voted to ask staff to place this memo on a future agenda for discussion, 6-0. 
• Annex Group Tax Abatement Request .
  Council voted to refer this request to staff for a memo, 6-0.

Index of Acronyms/Abbreviations used this newsletter:
CIP - Capital Improvements Plan - The City's 5-year plan for spending on capital improvements (those that involve physical infrastructure, streets, large equipment, buildings, etc.)
LMI - Low to Moderate Income - The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development defines LMI as those households with income under 80% of the area's median income.
RFP - Request for Proposals - When looking for bidders on a project, the City will often send out RFPs to gather interest and then rank the respondents by various factors, such as cost, experience, etc. 
TIF - Tax Increment Financing - A financial incentive where property tax value is essentially frozen on a property that is then redeveloped. The increase in property tax from that property being improved is then used to pay off the TIF over time. Once the TIF is paid off, the property tax is unfrozen at the higher level.

Thanks for reading,
Rachel Junck
Ames City Council,  4th Ward